NEWS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2022
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A3
Gubernatorial candidate visits Hermiston, Boardman
Stan Pulliam arrived Feb. 10
to visit Martha’s House
corners of the state,” Pulliam said.
“What we’re trying to see is what
are the diff erent solutions in the
diff erent corners of the state that
diff erent neighbors are fi guring out
on how to tackle our biggest prob-
lems,” he said.
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
Oregon gubernatorial candi-
date Stan Pulliam said he is visit-
ing all corners of Oregon to learn
how locals take on the state’s big-
gest problems.
The Republican, who is the
mayor of Sandy, brought his cam-
paign Thursday, Feb. 10, to East-
ern Oregon with a morning stop in
Boardman and an afternoon tour of
Martha’s House in Hermiston.
“I’m a mayor, and so I’ve
always really heavily believed in
local control and local solutions to
our problems,” he said.
His visit to Martha’s House
gave him an opportunity to see
how Hermiston is handling its
housing shortage. He said Mar-
tha’s House impressed him with its
community engagement.
“My experience as someone
who grew up in my hometown of
being involved in service organiza-
tions is that there is something spe-
cial about the feeling when you are
able to help out a fellow neighbor,”
he said.
When a person is trying to tran-
sition out of situations that aren’t
favorable, there is opportunity to
Pulliam on mask mandates,
COVID-19
While in Boardman, he
addressed several topics, including
mask mandates.
“I think it’s time for personal
choice on masks,” he said.
He repeated his message in
Hermiston after his tour of Mar-
tha’s House.
As he took the tour, he wore a
mask, and he said it was import-
ant to respect businesses and orga-
nizations when they required
mask usage. Still, he stated people
should have the option to decide if
masks are right for them or not.
He said he was vaccinated and
has isolated himself whenever he
felt ill.
“I do not know whether or not I
have had COVID,” he said.
He said he may have had it but
does not think “we should test
every time we aren’t feeling well.”
Instead, he explained, “We should
just do the right thing, which is fol-
low the doctor’s orders, and isolate
and not go to work, and not try to
spread our viruses to one another.”
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Stan Pulliam, Sandy mayor and Oregon GOP gubernatorial candidate, speaks with administrative staff Thursday,
Feb. 10, 2022, at Martha’s House in Hermiston.
help, he said, and that is “a special
deal.”
Pulliam expressed his hope he
can help people, too, by addressing
the concerns of locals.
The tour has concentrated on “a
lot of Main Street businesses,” he
said, and he added his campaign
started with such operations. But
Umatilla offi cer was
among locals to help
in Richland shooting
the tour also takes in places such
as Martha’s House, in addition to
schools, where he could explore
educational options.
“We’ve done a tour through
southern Oregon so far,” he said.
“This is our second leg of the tour.
On that one, we went up through
Eugene and Springfi eld to Med-
ford and Grants Pass.”
The next stint brought them
Feb. 9 to The Dalles, and then to
Boardman the morning of Feb. 10
before the visit in Hermiston and a
meet-and-greet that night in Pend-
leton. Next, the tour heads to the
coast.
“We’re trying to cover all of the
Experts: Food industry must adapt to labor shortages
Boardman Foods VP of
operations advocates for
promoting from within
help,’ if we have someone
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
available, we’ll defi nitely
EO Media Group
go.”
Following a deadly
Baker said there were
shooting in Richland, “defi nitely people from
The worker shortage isn’t
Washington, the Umatilla other departments in this
a temporary trend that farmers
Police Department sent area, as well” to assist.
and food processors can hope
one of its own to help.
will soon blow over, experts
Aaron
Christopher
Lt. Keith Kennedy Kelly, 39, was arrested
say.
rushed to the scene of the late Feb. 7 on the free-
As insuffi cient labor
shooting Feb. 7. Two peo- way between the town
plagues the agriculture and
ple had been shot, and of Sprague and Spokane,
food industries, employers
one had died, at the Fred Richland police said in a
must persistently compete
Meyer store in Richland. Facebook posting.
for workers while investing
Offi cers from numer-
in automation, according to
Police dispatchers in
ous agencies were pres- Richland received a call
experts at Food Northwest’s
ent. Kennedy’s job was reporting yelling and pos-
annual processing and pack-
to perform a “perimeter sible gunshots in the store
aging expo Feb. 3 and 4 in
watch” in case the suspect at 11:03 a.m. Feb. 7. The
Portland.
remained nearby, accord- fi rst offi cers responding
“This is the new normal.
ing to the Umatilla Police arrived just one minute
Things will not go back to
Department.
how they were before,” said
later, police said.
“They
wanted
Osvaldo Granillo, sales direc-
Richland
anyone who could
tor with Redzone Production
interim
Police
come to come,”
Systems, which helps compa-
Chief
Bri-
Kylie Baker, Uma-
nies with worker productivity.
git Clary said
tilla police admin-
Retaining employees is
responding offi -
istrator, said. “They
key — apart from the expense
cers found the
really didn’t know
of recruiting and training
two victims near
Kennedy
at that point what
workers, companies face an
each other in the
the scale of this
“opportunity cost” when they
store and said
event was going to be.”
can’t fi ll orders due to an insuf-
that although lifesaving
Her department, Baker measures were tried, one
fi cient workforce, he said.
said, only had two or three already had died.
Employee
retention
offi cers on duty at the
doesn’t just boil down to
The wounded vic-
time, including the school tim was a store employee
spending more on wages,
resource offi cer, charged who was taken to a hospi-
especially with the new gen-
to look over Umatilla tal, she said. He had sur-
eration of workers, Granillo
schools. That left Ken- gery and was listed in
said.
nedy as the only person critical condition, police
A survey of young work-
available to assist, Baker said. Neither victim was
ers found pay rates are 14th
said.
on their list of concerns, while
identifi ed.
“Basically, what hap-
enjoying their job is the top
The suspect and the vic-
pens from a law enforce- tim who died talked before
consideration, he said.
ment perspective, is once the shooting, according to
Workplace culture is a cru-
they get on scene at a store video footage seen
major event like that, they by police. Police said OREGON CAPITAL
check in with a command they don’t know what was
post,” Baker said. “What- said and whether the two
ever the most immediate knew each other. Police
Get the inside
need is at that time, that’s also reported the person
scoop on state
what they get assigned for who died was not a store
government
and politics!
that event.”
employee.
Kennedy’s perimeter
watch was with a pair of
other offi cers from diff er-
ent departments.
Baker said it is uncom-
mon for her department to
send offi cers to locations
as far away as the Rich-
land Fred Meyer, which is
more than 40 miles away.
“I’ve worked here
about 10 years, and nor-
mally that’s not stan-
dard protocol,” Baker
said. “But normally, we
don’t really have fi ve-
scale events occurring in
our area, fortunately. So,
A hundred years from now it will not matter what My bank account
it doesn’t happen very
was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... but the
often, but when agencies
world may be different because I was important in the Life of a Child.
call and say, ‘We need
By ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Herald
cial consideration for employ-
ers who are competing against
other companies whose work-
ers perform similar tasks, said
Matt Crabtree, sales director
with Redzone.
Given a choice between
fi lling boxes with products or
peeling onions, for example, a
worker may choose the com-
pany “where people want to
go and spend their time,” he
said.
“Retention is the cheapest
thing you can do to maintain
productivity,” Crabtree said.
It’s worth spending the
time to continuously educate
and train employees, focus-
ing on communication and
soliciting feedback on work
processes, said John Damon,
that employees in leadership
roles know “every crack and
cranny” of the operation, said
Debbie Radie, vice president
of operations at Boardman
Foods.
“My top mechanic today
started on my trim line,” Radie
said.
Boardman Foods has a
generous paid time-off pol-
icy and started an all-day child
daycare program to retain
female employees who’d oth-
erwise be compelled to stay
home during the pandemic,
she said.
“We fi nd creative ways for
people to have that work-life
balance,” Radie said, “even
on the work fl oor trimming
onions.”
workforce development man-
ager for Food Northwest, a
food industry group.
Workers are less likely to
jump ship if they see a future
at the company, he said.
“In this environment,
you’ve got to keep engag-
ing them and make them feel
important,” he said. “If they
feel like family, they will
stay.”
Bright employees can
act out and become “smart
alecks” when they’re bored,
so it helps to provide them
with a purpose and opportuni-
ties for advancement, Damon
said, so they “see a career path
where they didn’t see one.”
Promoting people from
within the company ensures
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